


The mix-up

by nachdenklich



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29508276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachdenklich/pseuds/nachdenklich
Summary: Partially based on a prompt: two people get their jackets mixed up, in one's person jacket are the keys, in the other's is an avocado. The first one places an ad to find the other person.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39





	The mix-up

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own 'Once Upon a Time' or its associated characters, it’s just a bit of SwanQueen fun.
> 
> It's my first attempt at fanfiction.  
> I don't usually write fiction but got somehow inspired 😆.
> 
> You can find me on twitter @tjanekane

It was a cold winter night in Storybrooke. After a long and tiring day the Sheriff needed a drink. But she didn’t want to go home, not yet anyway. The prospect of being alone in her apartment wasn’t very comforting, the place felt dull, bleak and way too quiet. And so she decided to go to the ‘Rabbit Hole’ instead, to get lost in alcohol and noise.  
  
After entering the bar she didn’t look around. She wasn’t in the mood for company or conversation. She just wanted to be alone without feeling lonely. So she headed straight for the bar area. ‘Straight’ she chuckled inwardly and sighed. The word has been on her mind a lot lately, usually preceded by ‘not’. “I’m not straight”, she thought, “I never was and I never cared about what people thought about me either. So way do I care now? Why am I so scared?” She sighed again. She knew exactly why she was scared. For the first time in her life she had family, people who cared about her and whom she didn’t want to disappoint: her parents, her son, her… Regina. Regina.  
  
She let her head fall on the bar counter. What was Regina to her? The other mother of her son? Her magic tutor? A frenemy? The bartender shot her a look and approached. “Tough day, huh? What can I get you, honey?” Emma looked up. “Scotch. And make it a double.” She replied. The bartender withdrew and she let her head fall on the counter again. Her thoughts continued. “And more importantly: What am I to Regina?”  
  
Emma heard a clink of a glass that was put in front of her and raised her head. The bartender gave her a reassuring smile that everything will be okay and left Emma to herself. The last few days were rather chilly and so instead of wearing her signature red leather jacket the Sheriff opted for a long black coat today. Which she decided to take off now as she was getting warm. Without turning her head she put her coat on the seat to her right. Her peripheral vision told her that no one was sitting there. She clasped her fingers around her glass but otherwise didn’t move.  
  
A few weeks ago a realization hit her: she had feelings for Regina. Sure, she had feeling towards Regina before – Regina was a sort of person that you couldn’t be impartial about – but her previous feelings were more on the negative side, like anger and annoyance and, if Emma was really honest with herself, sometimes intimidation as well. But her current feelings were of a romantic and sexual nature and that realization unhinged her.  
  
There was no doubt that Regina was hot - her body was a weapon and she knew well how to use it. But it wasn’t just Regina’s body that drew Emma’s attention. In the past three years since she arrived in Storybrooke Emma’s relationship with the Mayor moved from fighting on their right for Henry to some sort of friendship and co-parenting. They were getting along rather well now, Regina giving her lessons on magic, them having meaningful conversations, letting more and more of their guard down with each other and sometimes, Emma thought, they were sharing moments. The sort of moments you see in romcoms where two people lock their eyes and the world comes to a standstill. It happened twice now.  
  
After the first time Emma didn’t give it much thought. But as it happened again a week later Emma got confused. She realized that she was seeking out Regina’s attention, wanted her to notice her presence, to look into her eyes, to hold onto her, to kiss her, to touch her. And then it hit her: she was falling for Regina, and falling quite hard at that.  
  
She looked down at her hands, saw the drink she was still holding and brought it up. She took a small sip but didn’t withdraw the glass. Instead she kept it pressed to her lips. The thought of Regina’s lips invaded her mind. Emma closed her eyes as she imagined what it would be like to kiss those lips, those full, soft lips and the scar that slightly cut through the upper one. “Oh god!”, Emma thought and opened her eyes. She was sure that her cheeks have acquired a light redness but was hoping that whoever might have seen it would attribute it to the alcohol she was drinking. To add to that impression she had another sip of the Scotch. And this time she put the glass down. What was she supposed to do now?  
  
And as if the deities were mocking her, she heard the familiar click-clack of heels and a whiff of Regina’s perfume entered her nose mere seconds later. She could have picked up the sound of the Mayor’s arrival earlier were it not for the noisy environment. “Oh! Hello there, Emma! We had the same idea it seems.” Regina said with a bright smile as she pulled out the barstool next to her. Upon seeing Emma’s coat she halted. “Is it yours?” she asked motioning between the outer wear and the Sheriff. Emma simply nodded. “Can I move it then?”. Emma shrugged and released a short “Sure”. Regina moved the coat to the seat next to her and added her own jacket to the pile. She looked at Emma as she sat down. “Is everything alright?”, she asked. “You are rather distanced today.”  
“Tough day”, Emma replied without looking over. ”I’m not very good company right now”, she added with a weak smile after noticing that she might have come across rather rude. Regina frowned. “Should I leave then?”, she asked.  
The prospect of Regina’s absence made Emma panic, slightly. “No!”, she exclaimed. Realizing that she overreacted she added another “No.”, calmer this time round.  
“Aren’t we eager?”, the Mayor asked with a lopsided grin playing on her lips. The Sheriff blushed and took another sip from her drink while contemplating her answer. Having not come up with one she just shrugged. A thought entered her mind. “Where’s Henry? Shouldn’t he be with you?”, she asked. “Don’t worry, dear. He is having a sleepover at Nick's place tonight. Contrary to the common opinion I’m not that bad a mother to abandon my child just so I could get drunk.”, the Mayor replied.  
“I know that you aren’t a bad mother, Regina. I was just surprised, that’s all. So, why do YOU wanna get drunk?”.  
“I guess, the house started to feel empty and I just didn’t want to be alone. I don’t really want to get drunk as such, I merely wanted some company.”, Regina replied with a sad smile.  
Emma felt a tight grip around her heart. She wanted to hold her tight and to say that she could always count on Emma to be there for her, to comfort her, to reassure her. But instead she just put her hand on Regina’s and looked her in the eyes, a soothing smile playing on her lips. Regina got startled for a second but soon relaxed. She held Emma’s gaze and her thumb started to draw small circles on the inner side of Emma’s hand that still was lying atop of hers. Emma’s breath hitched. She rapidly got up, grabbed her coat stammered “Sorry, I’ve got to go” and practically run out of the bar.  
  
When she got outside she finally breathed out. And in. And out again. She put the coat on but remained otherwise still. “What did just happen?”, she asked herself. Could it really be that Regina had feelings for her too? Was she reading too much into it? The wind picked up and so she put her hands in the pockets and pulled up her shoulders. She frowned as she felt the keys in her right hand but the key pendant didn’t feel familiar. She pulled it out and froze. These weren’t her keys. But more importantly, the key fob was a small acrylic cube with in picture in it. A picture of her and Henry to be more precise.  
  
Emma looked down on herself. This wasn’t her coat and these weren’t her keys. And the only plausible explanation was that those items belonged to Regina. But why would Regina want to have Emma’s picture on her keychain? Did Regina really value her that much? She had to know. And so she turned and walked into the bar again.  
  
Regina was still sitting where she had left her, her shoulders slumped and her head hanging low. Emma’s heart ached. She approached the other woman holding out the keys and quietly saying “I’m sorry, I think I took your coat instead of mine”. Regina turned in the direction of Emma’s voice, saw the key fob in Emma’s hand and blushed. She then looked down, straightened her back and looked Emma directly in the eyes. “Yes, those are my keys, thank you, Em-ma.”  
  
She stretched out her hand and waited for Emma to give her the keys. Which she did. But by doing so she also put her other hand beneath Regina’s and after laying the keys down she also put her now free hand atop of the keys thus holding Regina’s hand between hers. “Look, Regina, there’s something I need to tell you. I like you. I like you a lot. And I don’t want to ruin what we have accomplished, what we’ve got. But I know that I’ll be kicking my ass for the rest of my life if I don’t say it and miss this chance, maybe our chance, on a happy ending. So, here it goes. Would you like to go out with me sometime?”. During her monologue Emma was looking down, afraid that she would lose her courage and the train of her thought. Now that she finally said what she wanted to say she looked up and into Regina’s eyes.  
  
The dark brown eyes were looking directly back at her, a soft and loving look, accompanied by a bright smile. Regina cupped their hands with her other hand and shook them lightly as she said “I’d like that very much, Sheriff. Shall we maybe move to somewhere more quiet? And less public?”. Emma nodded, big grin tearing her face apart and relief and hope spreading inside her chest.  
  
The Mayor picked up hers, or rather Emma’s, coat and an avocado fell out of it's pocket. Regina looked at it in surprise, then over to Emma, one eyebrow raised in question. Emma laughed, “I’ll explain some other time. For now let’s just say that there was a goat on the run and I had to be creative.”. “Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story”, Regina smiled back. Still holding hands, with Regina’s keys in between, they left the building. They only released their hold on each other when the door behind them closed. Because their ways weren’t parting yet, the interchanged coats didn’t matter for now. And so Regina put Emma’s coat on to protect herself from the cold wind and weather. She also pulled up the collar and when Emma’s scent swiped through her nose she inhaled, long and deep, closing her eyes for a second or two.  
  
Emma got mesmerised as she took in the scene. The only response to this image that the Sheriff could muster was to lean in and give the Mayor a soft and chaste kiss on the cheek. When Regina opened her eyes again and looked at Emma their gazes locked and everything stopped moving. “There’s this moment again. OUR moment”, Emma thought with a smile. But living in Storybrooke and both of them having magic, Emma wouldn’t put it past them if they ACTUALLY stopped everything from moving…


End file.
